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The 10 Commandments of Gas Turbine Technology

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As depicted in the Mel Brooks movie "History of the World - Part 1," there were originally twenty (20) commandments, until Moses dropped one of the slates on his decent from Mount Sinai. The remaining ten were brought down from the Mountain by Dave Lucier (FEP-1968) and transcribed for posterity by the hand of Alfred Shuman (FEP-1971).
In their original transcription, they were written in ancient caligraphy with a Jewish pen handed down through the ages by the sons of Israelites. You may have a coveted copy or seen one hanging on the walls of gas turbine operators or in the classroom of the FEDC.

The Ten Commandments
of Gas Turbine Technology

Thou shalt not forget the control principle of “minimum value gate” which controls fuel flow to ye combustors.

Thou shalt never forget the four primary protective devices and why they are there:

1. overtemperature2. overspeed3. loss of flame4. vibration

Thou shalt also remember the master protective circuit principle of “de-energize to trip” and that there are many other “secondary” protective devices which will stop ye turbine.

Honor thy tabloids and text material and read often the wondrous advice of the gospel of the Engineering Standards.

Hold Sacred the principle that every device on the turbine has a function~ even if ye know not what it is and, in the eyes of the Lord, even the least of these should not be cast asunder.

Never forsake, nor bespeak in disdain, nor cast stones upon the memory of the field engineer that preceded ye on the job. He hath neither the benefit of thine infinite wisdom nor the opportunity to follow in thy footsteps.

When in doubt, shut down thy turbine and call thy guru ~ thy service supervisor and hold fast his phone number in thy memory.

Suffer not they turbine to come up to speed dangerously. Do unto thy turbine, as ye would have it do unto thee.

If ye find that a device on thy turbine is not broken, we beseech thee DO NOT FIX IT!!

If left to itself, the gas turbine will probably run without thine interference.